There are many systems/devices known for cleaning teeth, including various ones using brushes, as well as others which use liquid droplets or liquid pulses. One other approach to cleaning teeth uses discrete bursts or shots of liquid to generate hydrodynamic cavitation, or a non-cavitating jet of liquid. However, there are no known/commercially available pumps which can efficiently accomplish short bursts of liquid in an efficient manner for a hand-held appliance. Pumps are available that can provide the required pressures, e.g. 8-10 bar, but these produce a constant or relatively constant, flow, as opposed to producing discrete separate bursts of liquid in response to operation of an actuation switch on the appliance. While it is possible to use a pump to re-circulate a flow of liquid to create a sequence of discrete bursts, such an arrangement requires an excessive amount of power that is not available in a hand-held consumer appliance.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a pump which is capable of producing discrete bursts or shots of liquid in a hand-held appliance useful in cleaning teeth.